RADIO HOST DISCIPLINED

Catalyst September Issue 2002

On July 25, radio show host John Ziegler treated his listeners on WHAS in Louisville, Kentucky, to an extended diatribe on Catholicism. He managed to lambaste celibacy, the sacraments, and Church teachings. But he saved his biggest guns for an attack on the Eucharist.

Ziegler opined how “freaky somebody has to be to become a priest when celibacy is required among the priesthood to be a priest.” Regarding Mass, he said it was arguably “the biggest news story that is being ignored every single Sunday—that someone is taking food and turning it into God and then eating it—or the Catholic Church is lying about that.” He also commented, “That a group of people, priests, that think they have the ability to say a marriage never existed, that that group of people would have a scandal like they’re currently embroiled in right now. That to me is not mysterious at all.” Etc.

On August 1, we filed a complaint with the general manager of WHAS. On August 13 he replied, “We have received quite a bit of feedback on this program from local Catholics in the Louisville area.” He proceeded to say that after speaking to Ziegler, “it bears noting that neither the Catholic Church, nor the recent scandals, have been mentioned on the John Ziegler Show since that date.” Putting the matter in context, he told us that “You may not be aware that Mr. Ziegler has only been a member of our staff for about a month now, and had only been on the air for a week at the time of the July 25th program.